Screenwriters

Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) will direct the 70s prison movie Attica, to be written by Geoffrey Fletcher, who temped as he wrote the screenplays that prepared him for the Oscar-nominated adaptation Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire.

Every writer on this year's annual Santa Barbara Film Festival "It Starts with a Script" panel wrote a screenplay that was personal, on some level--even Up writer-director Pete Docter and Star Trek's Alex Kurtzman. And they all mixed up their genres, too.

This week Kris Tapley and I cover Oscar activity at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and in town, and keep debating the best actress, actor, picture and director race. Does Up in the Air or Inglourious Basterds have a fighting chance?

Sometimes I find myself covering so many things that I don't write about them right away. A case in point: my weekend trip to Santa Barbara. I'm still writing up the Sandra Bullock tribute and haven't transcribed my writers panel, which went well even without Quentin Tarantino, who did turn up the f...

I'm in Santa Barbara for its 25th film fest: 196 films, 18 world premieres, 28 U.S. premieres and a program from 45 countries. The festival runs through Sunday, Feb. 14. Per usual, I'm ensconced in a twee bungalow at the Simpson House--sweet muffins on arrival, Laura Ashley decor, fringed pillows an...

One reason why James Cameron went out of his way to mention that he might make The Dive backstage at the Golden Globes: he was thanking screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Alexander) for all the writing she has done for him, not only on Avatar, but on Battle Angel and The Dive.

The Writers Guild Award nominations are in. Remember, as far as future Oscar noms are concerned, the list of ineligible WGA films this year was long: Inglourious Basterds, Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Me and Orson Welles, A Single Man and An Education among them.

It's not news that Fox, Lightstorm and James Cameron expect to push through an Avatar sequel or two. They want to capitalize on all the time and money that went into creating the Weta "rigs" for the CG characters. Now they're up and running, ready to go.

Just to prevent James Cameron's head from swelling too much from the astonishing global Avatar phenomenon, folks keep reminding him of how derivative and clunky his script is. It's been compared to everything from Pocahontas, The New World, The Last Samurai and Dances with Wolves to Ferngully. Trut...